A designer won an in-house naming contest to call it Super Bee, then Dodge added a pricier Hurst shifter that undercut its own sales pitch.
Lead trim: Super Bee 383 Magnum V8 (335 bhp) · up to 425 hp
Dodge Super BeeSUPER-BEE-1968 · 1968–1970
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Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Dodge Super Bee yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactA designer won an in-house naming contest to call it Super Bee, then Dodge added a pricier Hurst shifter that undercut its own sales pitch.
The original Dodge Super Bee was based on the Dodge Coronet two-door coupé and was produced from 1968 until 1970 as Dodge's low-priced muscle car, rebranded and mildly distinguished from the Plymouth Road Runner; the name has its basis in the "B" body designation of Chrysler's mid-sized cars including the Road Runner and Charger. Plymouth's Road Runner sales prompted Dodge Division General Manager Robert McCurry to request a similar model; senior designer Harvey J. Winn won a "contest" with the name "Super Bee" and a new logo based on the Dodge "Scat Pack" Bee medallion, and the show car (interior by the Alexander Brothers) was introduced at the 1968 Detroit Auto Show. It was slightly heavier than the Road Runner (about 65 lb) and rode on a 117-inch (2,972 mm) wheelbase against the Road Runner's 116 in, with larger rear wheel openings, a bumblebee tail stripe, a fancier grille, actual die-cast chrome-plated "Bee" medallions, the Charger's dash cluster and, on 4-speed cars, a Hurst Competition-Plus shifter (against the Road Runner's cheaper Inland shifter), which made it dearer and hurt sales. The 1968 model was only a two-door coupé with the base 335 hp 383 Magnum or the 426 Hemi rated at 425 hp (125 sold, the Hemi option raising the price by 33%), with a heavy-duty suspension, an optional A833 4-speed manual and high-performance tires. A hardtop joined in 1969 with a more aggressive "squeezed" front end and a new optional twin-scooped "Ramcharger" hood (code N96, the counterpart of the Road Runner's "Coyote Duster"); a "six-pack" (three two-barrel Holley carburetors) 440 rated at 390 bhp at 4700 rpm and 490 lb·ft at 3600 rpm was added mid-year as option A12 (the A12 package also had a Dana 60 axle with 4.10 gears, heavy-duty internals, black steel wheels with G70x15 tires and 11-inch drum brakes; 1,907 A12 M-code 1969½ cars, a US$463 option between the standard engine and the Hemi), and the 440 Magnum (4bbl) was reserved for the Coronet R/T. For 1970 the Super Bee got a twin-looped front bumper called "bumble bee wings" and sales fell (15,506 in 1970 and 5,054 in 1971) amid higher insurance rates for performance cars. Production: 1968 7,842 (or 7,717) 383s and 125 Hemis; 1969 27,800 (or 25,727) 383s, 1,907 Six Packs and 166 Hemis; 1970 15,506. Wheelbase 117.0 in (2,972 mm).
Collectors Spotted in the Dodge Super Bee Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Dodge Super Bee yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
3 published trims in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Super Bee 383 Magnum V8 (335 bhp) | 1968–1970 | 6.3 L V8 | 335 hp | 425 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
| Super Bee 426 Hemi V8 (425 bhp) | 1968–1970 | 7.0 L V8 | 425 hp | 490 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
| Super Bee 440 Six-Pack V8 (390 bhp, from 1969) | 1969–1970 | 7.2 L V8 | 390 hp | 490 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
Owning one
We don’t estimate running costs for a car like this. What it costs depends on its condition, its specialist and how it is driven, and an average would mislead.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs
The 2027 Super Bee swapped its V8 for a turbocharged Hurricane inline-six making 600 hp — the first Super Bee ever built without a V8.
Dodge revived the Super Bee nameplate for 2012 in two deliberately retro shades: "Stinger Yellow" and "Pitch Black," a wink at the original 1968 bee.
Dodge debuted a B5 Blue Super Bee at the 2007 Detroit auto show, then put it on sale in early 2008 capped at just 1,000 cars.
This Super Bee has nothing to do with the real Dodge Aspen/Volare twins it's built from — Chrysler de México just kept recycling old nameplates long after the US had retired them.
1971 was the only year Dodge ever put a small-block under the Super Bee's hood — every other year it was big-block V8 or nothing, right up to the Hemi.
Mexico’s Super Bee actually out-muscled its American namesake — looser emissions rules there let the same 318 and 360 V8s make more horsepower than the US-spec engines.
A designer won an in-house naming contest to call it Super Bee, then Dodge added a pricier Hurst shifter that undercut its own sales pitch.
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
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